Nicaragua: The Sandinista Years

This exhibit explores major aspects of the spirit and goals of the Sandinista Revolution which determined the discourse and concerns of the tiny republic of Nicaragua (pop. 3.5 million at the time) from its defeat of the Somoza dynasty dictatorship on 19 July 1979 to its own electoral defeat on 25 February 1990.

The Revolution's mantra was the "logic of the majority" and its four-point program: uncompromised national sovereignty, political pluralism, mixed economy and non-alignment. Critics and supporters of the Revolution reach different conclusions about the effectiveness of elements of this program and the accuracy of its claims.

One of the greatest successes of the FSLN was the literacy campaign that brought the illiteracy rate down from over 50% to 12% in 6 months and samples of the educational materials used are displayed.

Posters, photographs, pamphlets, books, a cloth painting and a traditional FSLN rebel mask tell the story of this significant period in Nicaraguan history. These items are illustrative of the extensive collection of primary and secondary materials that will be donated to the DiMenna-Nyselius Library by Walter J. Petry, Assistant Professor of History and Faculty Emeritus, 2005.

If you are replicating any of our guides as a template on your own site for use by your library's LibGuide authors, we would appreciate a brief attribution, e.g "Portions of this guide were built using suggestions from DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Fairfield University.”